Dehairing mechanism



` 'y l.. A. KRAMER DEHAIRING MECHANISM jive] May 6 1924.

lf.. A. KRAMER DEHAIRING MECHANISM Filed March 27. 1922 4 'sheets-sheet2 May s, 1994. h 1,492,926

, L. A. KRAMER DEHAIRING MECHANI SM Filed March 2'? 1922 .4 Sheets-Sheet5 May 6 1924. 1,492,926

1 A. KRAMER v DEHAIRING MECHANI SM Filed March. 27 1922 4 Sheets-Sheet 4Patented May 6, `1924.

UNI-reo STAT-Esc LOUIS A. KRAMER', OF CHICAGO;` ILLINOIS; i .r

, DEHAIRING lMEcrfnrT-ISM.

Applicationniednarca27, 1922- serial No.V 546,960.,

To'aZwZwmfz'zf may concern.' y

Beit known that. I, Louis` A. KRAMER,

citizen of the United States, residing at.

Chicago, in the county of Cook and vState of Illinois, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in a .Dehairing Mecha-- nism;` and Ido hereby declare the following tofbe a full, clear, and exact descriJ,- tiony 'of the inventiomsuch as will enabe others skilled inthe artto which it appertains to make and use thesame..

My invention relates to carcassdehairing and cleaning machines, and inits general aspectsv aims to provide. improved. arrangements of thedehairing means. andy the carcass conveying means, as well as im;

proved' arrangements for suitably spacing@ these two sets ofv means andpreventing themfrom interferingjwith one another:

In one importantaspect, my invention re:- lates to the construction ofrot-ating means for dehairing, scraping andv polishing oarcasses, and;ini this aspect aims to provide.

rotatable cleaning membersV which will be unusually effective in;operation', which will` exert increased pressure when' encounteringresistance, which will readily adjustl them;-4

selves to desirable positions, whichwill permit a choice of variousdesirable materials for certain portions' thereof, and. which willeasily permit of the replacing of any. worn parts.

In another aspect, my invention relatesto carcass conveyers and aims toprovide a novel construction ofthe push armsof such,

conveyers to increase the effectiveness ofthe thrustfand to prevent aresistance to the pushing movement from kinking -the conveyery chain toan undesirable extent. Furthermore, my invention also aims to providesimple andefective means for yspacing thev rotating cleaning membersfromthe conveyers andfrointhe push arms mounted on the latter, so as toprevent any portion of thecleaning; elements from` engaging theconveyerchains, and also aims to maintain the dehairing elements inproper operative position While employing unusually simple mountings forthesame. v

Furthermore, my invention aims to provide' a mountingforadehairing'element of the socalled beater type which will aiford athrust-efecting backing fori-each ofthe flexible beaters-andinwhich thethrust elements will be so arranged as to prevent the accumulation of,`hair or other deposits upon the mounting for the same.

lze.

Still further and. also more detailedrobi jects `will appear from thefollowing. specitication and from the accompanying drawings, in which. fF igl is alongitudinal sectionthrough a carcass dehairiiig machine oftheA generalV typejshown in U. S. Patent No. 1,336,524, as issued to meonApril'l, 1920, showing the arrangement of portions adjacent to thedelivery end of the machine and showing aY machine of this type lasequipped with various features ofv my invention.

. ,24 is an enlarged and fragmentary longitudinal section throughthesame machine talren from immediately in front of one` of theconveyei1 chainsA and showing my novel arrangement of'fthethrust armsfor the c onveyer.- 4,

Fig. 3 isl a vfjraginent' ary sectionthrough themachine taken at rightangles to'Figs. l andQ andgshowing -tlierel'ative positions of certainconveyer portions and ofthe beater members between which the conveyerstravel. ,s

Fig. 4 is aperspective view of one of the. thrust armsL andof theadjacent links of the conveyer chain.

Fig. 5 .isfan enlarged. transverse section, through the typev of beatermember illus trated in Fig. 1, namely a section ta'lenY transversely ofits! axis through the center of theI beater member oralong the line.KQ-5 of Fig. ,3.

Fig. 6is a perspective view of' the same` beater member with all excepttwo of the pairs of beater arms vdetached and with the drumilangenearest tothe observer cut away to showA the arrangement ofthe otherparts.l

Figs. 7 andS are lsections similar tov `por tions of Fig. 5audshowingother arrangements of the springs used in, connection with themountingsof the beaters.

Fig. 9 is a somewhat similar section showing another mounting ofthebeaters, namely one in which no springis employed.

Fig. 10 is a sectionH similar to Fig. showing a beater lcarrierincluding a vdrum having a sc :alloped crossjfsection.

Fig. ll is a perspective view ofthe beater member of Fig. 10, withthenearer flange cutaway and with. all except two of the beaters detached.-Y l Illustrativeofjmy inventiom am picturing and describing the same asapplied to a car-cass cleaning machine of the general type shown in mysaid U. S. patent, al though I do not wish to be limited to the use ofthe various features of my invention in connection with any particulartype of machine or in combination with one another. In the drawings,Figs. l, and 2l show portions of a machine of the said type, in whichthe frame l supports a series of parallel shafts 2 extendingtransversely of the machine and all rotated by power in a directionwhich is clockwise in'Fig. l. Each of these shafts has a plurality ofbeater members fastened upon the same. These beater members are spacedfrom each other to permit conveyer chains 3 to pass between them towardsthe right of Fig. 1 but at a rate which is slow relative to the rate atwhich the outer portions ofthe beater members are moved. Each beatermember comprises a supporting portion or carrier substantialiy in theshape of a drum, and including ai hub fastened to the shaft, a sideflange 5, and rigid webs connecting the flanges and supporting thebeaters proper` Each of the beaters mounted or. the carrier desirablj,7consists of a flexible or strap member 6 secured near its inner end toone of the said webs and extending outwardlv of the drum, together witha plurality of steel scrapers which desirably include an end scraper 7fastened near the outer end of the beater strap 6 and a companionscraper'S fastened near the inner end of the strap, both of the Scraperson each strap being curved somewhat into a hook forma-- tion convexedtowards the direction in which the Scrapers move when the beater memberis in o-peration. In my said issued patent, I have shown these beatermembers as extending tangentially of the cylindrical portion of a drumto which they are fastened and as adapted to be pressed against thiscylindrical drum portion by engagement with a carcass as to barelyproject beyond the flanges of the drum. I have also shown the beaters asequipped with Scrapers so located on the bea-ter straps as to interferewith a direct contact of these straps with the carcasses, the latterbeing shown as hogs since the general type of machine to which myinvention. relates is most commonly employed for the dehairing, cleaningand polishing of hogs.

In operating the machine of mysaid patent, I found that a greater reach.of the beaters beyond the drum flanges would be desirable both foreffective scraping, for assisting in rotating of the hogs, and forpermitting portions of the beater straps to engage the hogs so as toAafford. a massaging and polishingefi'ect on the said hog. I have alsofound that while this greater reach gential directions and radialdirections.`

Then instead of employing a cylindrical drum against which the beaterscan be flexed by the weight of the hog and the resistance of the latterto the action of the beaters, I back the strap portion of each beaterwith a web which extends longitudinally of the beater carrier or drumbetween the flanges thereof and which is conveXedtowards the beaterstrap. In practice, each of these webs desirably has a cross-sectionwhich is of a substantially cycloidal contour and which has its outerend spaced from the axis of the drum by a distance approaching, butsomewhat less than, the radius of the drum flanges. Then I desirablyemploy beater straps presenting exposed portions which normally extendbeyond the periphery of the drum flanges soL as to permit of theirdirect engagement with the hogs in ycertain positions of the latter, asillustrated for example in connection with 'the hogC'fshown in dottedlines in Fig. l. i

The beater strap itself may be made of a variety of materials, althoughI desir' ably employa material which is flexible without being toofreely so. 'Ihen instead of depending entirely on a bending of the strapfor permitting the needed movement of each beater with respect to thedrum carrying the same, I may mount eachstrap so as to permit a bodilyrocking of the same on the web back of the strap, and may employ springmeans for resisting such rocking movement. For example, Figs. l and 5show beater members in which each web 9 has an inner portion affording asubstantially flat surface to which the beater strap 10l is fastened andwhich flat surface is disposed at an angle of approximately 45 degreesto the radius leading from the fastening point of the strap to the axisof the drum. I am also showing this web as continued `outwardly in theform of a curve presenting a convexed surface towards the strap andterminating substantially concentric with the periphery of the drumflange 5 but somewhat inward of the latter. Then I am showing eachbeater strap l() as sufliciently resilient to resist a bending of thesame close for its ieagoaef entire length along theaili aicent surface'of the -Web 9; soythat the" inner endif of' the strap-Will tend" toswing-"rearwardly and outwardly when an Iencountered hog ol'l'ers mentfor `the strap, If des-irably secure the strapv to the-'Web 9 b-yv abolt 12 which has spring means-associated with it for resist-ingy thesaid' movement.vv For this purpose, F 1g.'

5 shows compression springs 13:? asv interposed respectively v'betweenthei bolts l 12 and the rea-rv farcesof the Webs 9, thereby' permittingthe said rockingv tendency olf the beater stra-p tocolnpress the,`spring and to slide the fastening bolt' forwardly after the mannershown' in connection withY the uppermost beaterv inV Fig.: 5.1Fnthermore, I am showing each strap as having associate-di with itanvinner scraper l@ which ismo'nnte'd ony the same bolt 12 between theinne-r end of the strap' and the fastening bolt,` sol that'the'same'rocking movement of' the strap-A vvill move this inner' scraperradially` outwardxof' the drum or'intoa position in'Wh'ich it Willbe'more likely' toireach partis of' the liogprojectingjbetween the flangesof the drum, as"

for example the legsof the hog;

spring employed in `connexztion with the fastening of each beater strapshould be of a spiral compression-type, ortthatpit should be-disposed?behind the thrust-recewing Web.l

F'or'exanrple, an archedflat spring 1'5f might be' employed'behind'l the:web after the ina-nner shown inv Figff.v Or, the strap (I if oi" a4suitable grade of steel) might be doubled back upon itself in fro-nt ofthe web asin the case of thestrap'BO'shownf.infFigiS;

iVitheach of these arrangementsas pictured in Figs; 5, 7 andv 8,1desirably ,doinot extend the thrust-receiving Webs inwardly all the Waytothe hubv of' thefdrum, but preferably space these lWebs from this hubyby a considerable. distance, so ast'o afford. spaces through-Which4 thehair,' nails, dirt or other scrapings canA passiout. By: sodoing, Iavoid the gathering of refuse'in the drum and the clogging of' thesprings or the' like by such refuse, as the action. of' centrifiigalfforce will continuously' tendv tothrow any: such refuse out through oneor another of the openings: Moreover', the Water which is commonlyksprayed upon the hogsjduringv the operation of the machine Will also.flush any refuse through these openings so as to carry the same downuponsthe screen 15;A

from which screentherefuse is then pushed towards the left of Fig. 1 bythe thrust arms 16 of the conveyer, While the Waterl drips through theperforations l'T of theA screen.

However, I do not Wish to be limited tov the usezof a resilient materialtorV the straps;

norgt'othe lprovisioni of' suchy v spaces between? thethrustereceiyingWebs and' the" h-nbs of the beaterl drums? Forex'amplei, I may con-ltihuethe curving'of eacht web inwardly from' itsouter enduntiil it!meets'the inner end drain-T18y of Fig-110.Lv KVS01 also, may omit thespring' arrangements', 'such asl those .her toi'ore described inconnection With Fig. 5", andl may employ a'. more tiexiblef beaterl:strap made of! leather or ova rubberized. fabric,y

in: which: case the inner iendot' the strap.

straps long; enough so= that.y an exposed por'- tion lof the sameWill-normally extend outwardly beyond. the. drumri'rlaniges; asv shownandI I desirably allow thefouter scraper 1.1 to kproject for somedistance bejyond the outer endof'thestrapi By so doing; I amable tosecure the long effective reachy of the outerscraper as shown 1nconnection with l the hogsfA: and CV ofi Figr1.l which long However, itis notk impera-tive that therl .70 of 'the Webf bank' of same, therebyat-L fording thev scallopedv cross section of theV aufy reach assistsin, rotating the: hogs; so as to rnalte surethat all substa'lntiallylsnr'facebportions' of" the same Willbe cleaned in asingle passagethrough the machine. Byl so. doing;A

I also profitl the i massaging and@ polishing' eil'eotwhich is securedby a direct contact-ofvv` the hog' with strap portions, as shown in:A

connections with hogs B and C. Furthermore', itwill bev obvious fromFigs. 5 andi 10.'

andi from' thebeaterpmernbe'r engaging? the hogv B of Fig. 1 that theweb backof-eaohV beater strapresistsaxiexing ofthe strapfto:

ani increasedex'tenti as the resistance" oat they hogfto theI beaterincreases; Consequently, If`a1nl able to' utilizel the. Weight of thehog forfin-creasing the",pressureitfith which* theV Wardotthe adjacentdrum anges,. I cankr readily limit this' pressure to a degree whichWill' not tear or otherwise damage'the hog: To movel the hogs past thebeater mem! bers in' proper position Ifor: an effective det.

hairing and? cleaning action; I desirably'foL low the practice of' mysaid patent byv mounting beams 22 longitudinally of' the machine, eachbeam havingafnotch 23 Which' straddles'`v the .hubs of two of' thevbeater drums onkthe same sliaft and each beanr o'arryingatv its topf an`iipvvardly .open steel channel 24. Each such channel serves as a guidefor one of the conveyer chains 2 which support the hogs during theirtravel, and which chains have thrust arms 25 spaced along them to limitthe rolling of the hog upon the chains and to aid in resisting thepressure of the beaters.` Each such thrust arm 25 desirably has atitstip a collar 26 to prevent a hog from being rolled over the top ofthe ai'in, as more fully described in my said patent. In practice, Ihave found that when a hog is in a yposition in which the beater wouldtend to roll it up along an adjacent arm, as in the case of the hog B ofFig. l, the leverage aorded by the height of the arm tends to kink ythecon-4 manner shown in Figs. 2 and 4. By so do-` ing, I greatly extendthe effective length of the base of the arm, so that I reduce the`leverage due to the above described eilt-ct and prevent an overstrainingof the chain.

To simplify the construction and to permit some freedom of movement forthe beaters, Ides'irably employ only a single bolt for fastening eachbeater strap, after the inaniier showny in Fig. 6, although the innerscraper 14 may be of such a length tha-t it can extend across both oftwo beater straps mounted alongside each other on acorrespondingly wideweb 9. By employing such a mounting with some space longitudinally ofthe drum between the two ,beater straps and between each beater strapand the adjacent drum flange, I permita limited amount of rocking of thestraps about the fastening bolts l2 as pivots. In practice, I have foundthat this pla-y is not objectionable but rather' permits each beater toadjust itself more effectively tothe position momentarily needed for'action on some part of the irregular contour of the hog. By arrangingthe drum flanges as illustrated, I cause these to limit the lateralswinging of the beaters, so that I can readily prevent their engagingthe thrust arms 25 even thoughthe chain carrying the latter' may haveample lateral play in the guide channel. 24 to avoid undue friction.Consequently, my said arrangements of the conveyei' parts and beatermountings coop! erate in affording an unusually effective cleaningaction without the risk of any interference between the beaters and anypoi'- tion of the conveying mechanism.

' However, while I have illustrated and described my invention inembodiments-,including various highly desirable features, I doconstruction and not wish to be limited to the details of thearrangement thus disclosed, as these might obviously be modified in manyways without departing from the spirit of my invention or from theappended claims. For example, I do not wish to` be limited to thematerials which l have mentioned, nor to the mounting of two beaters oneach web, it being evident foi' exam-- ple that a single andcorrespondingly wider beater might be employed, such as the one.illustrated in Fig. 11.

I claim as my invention l. A rotatable dehairing member comprising ahub, a pair of end flanges fast thereon, a plurality of beater carriersspanning' the flanges and having beater-engaging surfaces convexedforwardly with respect to the direction of rotation of the dehairingmember, and flexible beatingfmembers respectively secured to the forwardsurfaces of the said beater carriers, the beater carriers being freelyspaced from the hub to permit hair or the like to pass therebetween.

2. A rotatable dehairing member comprising a beater carrier, a pluralityof flexible beaters disposed radially of the axis of the carrier andsecured to the latter at" their inner ends, and presser membersrespectively disposed behind the beaters and each presenting towardsvthe adjacent beater a surface convexed about an axis parallel to butspaced fromthe axis of the holder, each such surface being of suchalength as to adapt it for engaging the adjacent flexible beater' forsubstantiallythe entire length of the latter, the carrier including ahub andi each presser memberl being freely spaced from the hub -toafford a passage for the ejectionof hair or the like. j

3. A deha'iring device comprising a rotatable carrier having webssymmetrically disposed about its axis,r resilient beaters i'e-yspectively mounted at their inner ends on the webs, and yieldingmeansassociated with the said mounting of the beaters to the webs forpermitting a limited bodily movement of the inner beater ends away fromthe websv on which they are mounted.

4. A dehairing device comprising a rotating carrier having a webextending outwardly of the axis, a pin transverse of the web at adistance from the outer edgey of the latter, a beater extendingsubstantially radially of the device and having one end slidable on thepin, andyielding means urging the said iiinei' end towards the web.

5. -A dehairing device comprising a rotating beater carrier,flexible-beaters each secured at its inner end to the carrier and eachnormally extending substantially radially of the" carrier beyond thelatter, the carrier havingportions behind the beatersl for definingybeater being secured to the carrier at its inner end by yielding meanswhich permit the said end of the beater to move away from the carrierwhen the outer end of the beater engages a carcass. s

6. In a carcass dehairing machine,`a carcass conveyer comprising endlesschains and thrust arms mounted onk spaced links of each chain, eachthrust arm having a base extending in both directions longitudinally ofthe chain beyond the link on which the arm is mounted, so as to overhangand rest upon the links adjacent thereto.

7. A carcass conveyer for a dehairing machine, comprising a chaincomposed of cenf tral link members alternating with pairs of laterallink members, and thrust arms carried by certain of the central linkmembers,

each thrust arm being widened at its base to overhang and rest upon thetwo pairs of ing in both directions longitudinally of thel chain beyondthe link on which the arm is mounted, so as to overhang and rest uponthe links adjacent thereto, the y,said `base extending close to the saidtwo pairs of lateral links beyond the ends of the link carrying thethrust arm.

Signed at Chicago, Illinois, March 24th,

' LOUIS A. KRAMER

